US man uses chainsaw to fight off mountain lion attack

An American, Dustin Britton, used a chainsaw to fight off an attack by a
mountain lion while he was camping with his family in Wyoming.

Only eight cases of mountain lions acting aggressively toward humans have been documented in Wyoming over the last decade.Photo: GETTY

By Our Foreign Staff and Agencies in Billings

12:18PM BST 17 Jul 2009

Mr Britton was on a camping trip with his wife and two toddlers in northwestern Wyoming.

The 32-year-old mechanic and ex-US marine from Windsor, Colorado, said he was alone cutting firewood about 100 feet from his campsite in the Shoshone National Forest when he saw a seven-stone lion staring at him from some bushes.

Mr Britton said he raised his chainsaw and met the lion head-on as it pounced - a collision he described as feeling like a grown man running directly into him.

"It batted me three or four times with its front paws and as quick as I hit it with that saw it just turned away," he told the Associated Press.

Wildlife officials said Sunday evening's attack was highly unusual because mountain lions are generally reclusive by nature. Only eight cases of mountain lions acting aggressively toward humans have been documented in Wyoming over the last decade.

"It's very, very rare," said Warren Mischke, a spokesman for the Wyoming Game and Fish authority. "We're still trying to investigate why this lion would behave this way."

The wounded animal retreated after Mr Britton inflicted a six to eight-inch gash on the lion's shoulder. Mr Britton was left with only a small puncture wound on his forearm.

"You would think if you hit an animal with a chainsaw it would dig right in," he said. "I might as well have hit it with a hockey stick."

The mountain lion was shot and killed on Monday after it attacked a dog brought in to track the animal, which was four to five years old. Authorities say it was in poor physical condition and appeared to be starving.

After Mr Britton's confrontation, he and his wife, Kirsta, decided to spend the night in their pop-up camper with their two children with the lion still on the loose.

Wildlife agents were called the next morning after Mr Britton told a passing forestry employee about the incident.

Tests for rabies and other diseases came up negative, but officials said they were continuing to analyse the animal for other potential diseases.